An electrical contact of this type is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,530,428. The known socket contact comprises a contact member with an axial plug-in aperture for receiving a mating contact pin. The contact member is connected to a central portion used to attach the socket contact to an insulating housing. The socket contact end furthest from the contact member forms a connecting portion to which a conductor can be connected. In order to prevent the socket contact from sliding in the insulating housing in the axial direction, the central portion is provided with a locking tab which is slotted from the socket contact material. This tab is supported by the central portion on one side, and extends through the interior of the socket contact under an acute angle relative to the socket contact. The free end of the locking tab projects through a slotted opening on the opposite side of the socket contact. When the socket contact is not inserted in an insulating housing, the free end of the locking tab projects over the outer periphery of the socket contact. When the socket contact is pushed into a chamber of an insulating housing, the locking tab is forced inward and snaps behind a shoulder provided in the insulating housing, whereupon the tab returns outwardly over a small distance. In order to remove the socket contact from the insulating housing, a pin-shaped removing tool is inserted into the plug-in aperture of the contact portion; the end of the tool rests on the locking tab and urges it inward. When the locking tab has been urged far enough inward, the locking tab becomes permanently deformed and does not return into its initial position. The deformed contact can no longer be used, because it cannot return into the locked position inside the contact chamber of the insulating housing.
The goal of the invention is to develop an electrical socket contact of the above-specified kind so that a permanent deformation of the locking tab cannot occur when the socket contact is removed from its housing.